138964 réponses à ce sujet

[Dracarys]

Oh, fun, a questionnaire!  Seems like a good way to jump into the thread, which I meant to join, er, about 120 pages ago.  I had a busy weekend and you all move FAST.  Anyway...

 

When did you first meet Cullen (e.g. as Amell/Surana, in the Broken Circle quest, or in DAII)?

-- Mage origin as a Surana (I had already done a couple of the other origins, since I wasn't sure what I wanted to use for an entire playthrough)

 

What was your first impression of Cullen?

-- "Hey, I can flirt with the adorably awkward templar!  Do I get to have him?  Maybe without him dying horribly afterwards?  Maybe he'll...no, damn it, that didn't work." *starts origin again* "What about now? I'll be less coy this time, there's an empty room right there, I mean, seriously.  Let's do this.  What the...no, there he goes again! COME ON. Fine, we'll try completely direct, 'Ton Loc playing in the background' levels of let's get busy here. Not even a little subtle, but it's all that's left." *reloads last save strategically made right before this part* "Okay, here we go, aw, look how awkward and adorable he is when I tell him we need to NO HE'S LEAVING AGAIN WHY CAN I NOT HAVE THE CUTE TEMPLAR THIS IS NOT OKAY"  At which point I may or may not have gone back to my human rogue origin and facilitated a hookup with Dairren just to prove that ONE of my wardens wasn't romantically inept.  

 

When did your impression of Cullen change (if ever)?

I came out of DA:O thinking I'd never see him again and that he was probably doomed to wander around as a broken shell of a human being (this made me sad, but I had Alistair filling my need for "adorably awkward LI" by then and besides, I never figured on seeing Cullen again).  His reappearance as a reasonably well-adjusted guy in DA2 made me hopeful that his story wasn't finished, and fortunately, it's not!  I'm generally pro-mage, but I never begrudged him his issues.  The guy was completely traumatized.  I'm more interested in his apparent strength of character, considering he came a long way back from how he was at the end of Broken Circle. I do hope he retains some of that romantic awkwardness in DA:I, though. It's awfully endearing. 

[MacyNell]

 

Hello!

 

I think it'd be very interesting to see how similar (or different) our journey down the Cullen path has been, so a few questions below for all fellow Cullenites, ala "How I Met Cullen" style. 

 

(P/S: Feel free to ignore if this is a repeat of something that has been discussed to death before!)

 

1. When did you first meet Cullen (e.g. as Amell/Surana, in the Broken Circle quest, or in DAII)? Broken Circle - I've never played as a mage in DAO. 
2. What was your first impression of Cullen? My first encounter with Cullen was in the Broken Circle quest, and I have to confess that it wasn't the best first impression. While speaking to him, my first two thoughts was "fanatic" and "broken", though I understood that he was acting that way because he had just been through hell. I felt sorry for him and I was also impressed that he was mentally strong enough to not succumb to Uldred (like his fellow templars), but definitely didn't devote any further thought to him after completing the Broken Circle quest. 
3. When did your impression of Cullen change (if ever)? I was very surprised that he appeared in DA2, as I had never found him particularly relevant to the DAO storyline. I treated him as a peripheral character throughout most of Act 1 and didn't pay any particular attention to him. The moment I became aware of Cullen as a distinct character in his own right? That scene when rogue Hawke returns from the Deep Roads, and Cullen was at Gamlen's house to bring Bethany to the Circle. I thought it was impressive that he was capable of being courteous (and kind) towards Bethany, even though he didn't have to be (given his past experiences and the situation in Kirkwall). His gradual growth as a character between Act I and Act III, and his actions in the final act of DA2 sealed the deal for me. How could you not enjoy a character who had the inner strength to stand up to Meredith (despite having personally experienced the worst of what mages could do), and had the guts to disobey orders and let a pro-mage Hawke go after the battle, because it was the right thing to do. I reached the point of no return after that.     

And that kids, is the story of How I Met Cullen.

 

Regardless of whether Cullen is an NPC or a companion, I'm still pleased as pie that he's definitely appearing in DAI, and that we get to see him develop further as a character. Bring it on, Bioware! 

 

Hi!  Welcome. This looks like fun, so here goes:

 

When did you first meet Cullen (e.g. as Amell/Surana, in the Broken Circle quest, or in DAII)? My first playthrough of Origins was human noble, so Broken Circle.

 

What was your first impression of Cullen?  I’ve always been appalled by the way mages are treated.  Even so, I was sympathetic to Cullen’s situation in Broken Circle.  He, too, was obviously a victim who had been treated horribly.  It was intolerable, what was done to him, and I very much wanted to rescue him despite all his anti-mage sentiment.  I remember hoping at the time that I wasn’t going to have to kill him at some point, because I also was afraid of what he was going to do when he got free.  Thank goodness that turned out to be a nonissue. 

 

When did your impression of Cullen change (if ever)?  Well, it was a gradual turnaround.  If I have to pinpoint it, I guess it was when he reluctantly admitted that he had concerns about Meredith, and I realized that he was actually thinking logically.  His willingness to express his fledgling doubts to Hawke spoke volumes, imo, as to what direction his character development had taken.  I found myself going back to him frequently, hoping for more insight into his thoughts on the situation. Of course, some of the things he continued to say made me cringe, but for the most part, I thought he was moving in the right direction.   As I have said on a couple of occasions, by the end of DA2, I felt he was more of an ally than an enemy.    That last scene wherein he stepped back and made a conscious decision to let us go made quite an impression on me.  As far as I am concerned, Hawke and Anders safely absconded to parts unknown where they stayed together and continued to help mages whenever they could….so my BIG question has always been about what was next for Cullen.  I’m pretty psyched that I’m going to find out, up close and personal.

 

Thanks.  That was fun.  

[Phate Phoenix]

Oh, fun, a questionnaire!  Seems like a good way to jump into the thread, which I meant to join, er, about 120 pages ago.  I had a busy weekend and you all move FAST.  Anyway...

Welcome! Don't mind the speed. If you need to, just ask for an update and we'll fill you in real fast! 

[Phate Phoenix]

As far as I am concerned, Hawke and Anders safely absconded to parts unknown where they stayed together and continued to help mages whenever they could….so my BIG question has always been about what was next for Cullen.  I’m pretty psyched that I’m going to find out, up close and personal.

 

High-five for similar thoughts!   Most will say Varric is the carryover whose story we're supposed to want to see expanded. Nuh-uh. Cullen is the fascinating one.

[RynJ]

I should be doing work but I'll procrastinate and do this instead, since this thread has made me think about what I feel about Cullen again!

 

When did you first meet Cullen (e.g. as Amell/Surana, in the Broken Circle quest, or in DAII)?

 

I was a Cousland on my first and main playthrough so I met him in the Broken Circle quest.

 

What was your first impression of Cullen?

 

"Oh, this poor guy trapped in here......no I'm not going to kill all of the mages in there, deal with it......okay, now that that's settled, let's try and get you out.....I guess I can't get you out and you'll just go back to praying and not even try to help me help you." After a few minutes of running into and clicking on that magical barrier I moved on. I didn't like or dislike him at that point.

 

When did your impression of Cullen change (if ever)?

 

I didn't think much of him after the quest ended until that epilogue card where we found out that he killed two mages before fleeing the Ferelden circle. I kind of tilted my head but was not super surprised and wondered if there was a way to go back and kill him to keep that from happening. I found out no so I just kind of shrugged and moved on. It wasn't until DA2 that I started thinking more about his character after seeing the way he'd changed, especially by the end when he'd challenged the Templar Order. I never disliked him but after DA2 I was curious about his motivations and how he would move on from there, since he'd gone from full traumatized mage hating to questioning the integrity of the Templars. 

 

Which is why I was happy to hear that he was returning in DAI! Though, to be honest, I kind of wish they'd kept the piece about him killing the mage apprentices. I'm a sucker for heavily flawed characters and that definitely added a whole other layer to Cullen.

[CuriousArtemis]

Welcome, Dracarys! p.s. Did you enjoy last night's episode of GOT?

 

When did you first meet Cullen (e.g. as Amell/Surana, in the Broken Circle quest, or in DAII)?

DA2

 

What was your first impression of Cullen?

He's cute and has a nice voice. I honestly didn't understand what templars and mages were when I played the game at first, except that I associated templars with real life religion, and that didn't make sense in a fantasy video game. Cullen seemed to me to represent order and authority, although I didn't really get that he was of a higher rank than, say, Thrask. 

 

When did your impression of Cullen change (if ever)?

"You'll have to go through me." Don't ask me why, but my eyes almost bugged out of my head when this happened. "Did that guy just stand up for Hawke? Is he breaking the law??" I was way impressed. I grew immediately more interested in the character and paid special attention to him throughout the game. On each subsequent playthrough, my appreciation increased. I did eventually play DA:O, and it took me awhile to play a mage origin. I wasn't too impressed by the first part, but when he showed up in the bubble (I kind of never really noticed him my first two playthroughs lol) I did feel sorry for him. I can't remember when it was I connected that they were the same character, but once I realized they were, my understanding of Cullen REALLY increased. 

 

I was a fan for a long, long time, but after chit-chat in the Fenris thread kind of naturally petered out, I looked around for a new fandom and place to hang out. Discovered the Cullen thread, and the rest is history In two years (or more...?) no one's yet to insult me or make me feel bad about myself here, and for the BSN, that's pretty damn amazing.

[MacyNell]

High-five for similar thoughts!   Most will say Varric is the carryover whose story we're supposed to want to see expanded. Nuh-uh. Cullen is the fascinating one.

Exactly.  Don't get me wrong, I love Varric and I'm glad I'll be seeing him again, but Cullen's next step is where the intrigue is.   I don't know if the DA team meant for it to be that way, but looking back, it does seem that way, and that's good enough for me.  All this time, through all the speculation and the doubts, in the back of my head the memories of those last moments of DA2 have been screaming at me that there was no way in hell that they would possibly leave us hanging.  And they didn't, God bless 'em. 

[Ananka]

When did you first meet Cullen (e.g. as Amell/Surana, in the Broken Circle quest, or in DAII)?

I first met Cullen in my very first DA:O playthrough, which was as a human mage. I don't really remember that well, but I don't think I spoke to him in the hallway during that playthrough, so my first impression of him was probably from the whole "tempting me with the one thing I could never have" dialogue. I don't think it was until a later playthough that I realized that I could speak with him in the hallway and that the two mages gossipping after the harrowing were talking about him. His epilogues made me go off him, though. Until I discovered the fabulous, crabulous Cullen Romance Mod which I now include in every single one of my mage playthroughs.

 

What was your first impression of Cullen?

I liked that he had a crush on my mage, but his view on mages when I found him during the Broken Circle quest made me wary of him. 

 

When did your impression of Cullen change (if ever)?

It's changed pretty successively. I've always thought he was interesting, but I've been a bit too put off by his view of mages. It's only recently that I've headcanoned my way past his epilogues, and combined that headcanon with the mod and Cullen in DA2, and really started to look forward to seeing him again. Flirted with him I would have done already from the start if it'd been an option, though.

[turtlesam]

 

1. I first met Cullen watching my sister play the mage Origin. I started w/ a Dalish elf and a Human noble, but hadn't made it to the Broken Circle yet when I had made her try the game (I have a prob w/ creating and re-creating the same character numerous times)

 

 

I have the same problem in Mass Effect 3 - I've recreated my Shepard so many times I've lost count!   No matter how many times I try she just looks somewhat off.  

[Panda]

What was your first impression of Cullen?

-- "Hey, I can flirt with the adorably awkward templar!  Do I get to have him?  Maybe without him dying horribly afterwards?  Maybe he'll...no, damn it, that didn't work." *starts origin again* "What about now? I'll be less coy this time, there's an empty room right there, I mean, seriously.  Let's do this.  What the...no, there he goes again! COME ON. Fine, we'll try completely direct, 'Ton Loc playing in the background' levels of let's get busy here. Not even a little subtle, but it's all that's left." *reloads last save strategically made right before this part* "Okay, here we go, aw, look how awkward and adorable he is when I tell him we need to NO HE'S LEAVING AGAIN WHY CAN I NOT HAVE THE CUTE TEMPLAR THIS IS NOT OKAY"  At which point I may or may not have gone back to my human rogue origin and facilitated a hookup with Dairren just to prove that ONE of my wardens wasn't romantically inept.  

 

 

 

That sounds like me trying to get away from Grey Warden business in the beginning of Origins. What is this Grey Warden thing? No I don't want to join. What Duncan you are going to force me? Nope, I need to reload. After trying every dialogue option with reloads I changed to Dalish elf origin thinking that maybe commoner dwarf has to join Wardens anyways. Obviously I had no luck with dalish origins either and finally I crumpily went to Ostagar with Duncan which I hated pretty long time when playing DAO for forcing me to be Grey Warden XD

[neonmoth]

This gave me an excuse to sketch a quick Cullen. I'm putting it up now in case I screw it up when I ink it.

 

*snip

That's awesome. Can't wait when it's inked.

 

A drawing I am working on.

 

NOTE: all of this is hypothetical, as I have no idea how CC will work, or the game for that matter!

 

I'll put it under a spoiler tag because it's got sort of kissing in it, SFW tho!  Unless kissing ain't SFW where you work...

 

Spoiler

That's beautiful (and hot I must say) Rinji, thank you for your peaceful offering :]

[Chiantirose82]

1. First time you met Cullen

 

Broken Circle Quest, since my first playthrough was Human Rogue.

 

2. First Impression.

 

Uhh, someone needs to chill the f... out. Not impressed, more annoyed.

 

3. When did impression change.

 

Definitely in DA2, it made me replay DA:O as Mage and get to see the little "fling". Still more of a fan of DA2 Cullen than DA:O Cullen.

[Dracarys]

 

Welcome, Dracarys! p.s. Did you enjoy last night's episode of GOT?

 

 

 

Best. Wedding. EVER. 

[Shyviolet]

Oooh, quizzies! How I met Cullen:

 

 

• When did you first meet Cullen (e.g. as Amell/Surana, in the Broken Circle quest, or in DAII)?  DAO - played a rogue so it was not very auspicious as she was into Alistair and Cullen was in a bubble.
•  
• What was your first impression of Cullen?  Felt immense sympathy for what he had evidently gone through. Then forgot about him. 
•  
• When did your impression of Cullen change (if ever)? I  Confession time:  I didn't have an opinion one way or the other on Cullen. Then I heard about all the fans, wondered why he was so popular. So I played another round of Origins as a female Amell and my marshmallow heart got gooier with the all-too-brief crush stuff.  Played another round of DA2, paying attention to the Cullen scenes. Then read the Cullen thread. And was hooked. 

[MacyNell]

Best. Wedding. EVER. 

 

It was quite a shock.  A really awesome shock.  

[Shyviolet]

It's taken me 2 DAYS  to catch up with both threads. I'm exhausted!!!!!

 

So it's now a page 1000 celebration?  I have been slacking on my project, so I hope so!

[Phate Phoenix]

Exactly.  Don't get me wrong, I love Varric and I'm glad I'll be seeing him again, but Cullen's next step is where the intrigue is.   I don't know if the DA team meant for it to be that way, but looking back, it does seem that way, and that's good enough for me.  All this time, through all the speculation and the doubts, in the back of my head the memories of those last moments of DA2 have been screaming at me that there was no way in hell that they would possibly leave us hanging.  And they didn't, God bless 'em. 

 

I think they had a happy accident. Didn't they put Cullen in DA2 just because? His story has ended up feeling very organic because of it, and I'm glad they didn't just call it a day after the progression in DA2.

[MacyNell]

I think they had a happy accident. Didn't they put Cullen in DA2 just because? His story has ended up feeling very organic because of it, and I'm glad they didn't just call it a day after the progression in DA2.

 

Well, in that case, I feel very lucky indeed, 'cause I would've been a sad bunny if my curiosity had been left unsatisfied.  

[GVulture]

When did you first meet Cullen (e.g. as Amell/Surana, in the Broken Circle quest, or in DAII)?

Tabris' Broken Circle quest.

 

What was your first impression of Cullen?

I felt bad for the guy and sympathized with him. I did choose to ignore his advice about culling the mages and while he was unhappy about that. I like to think eventually he got over it.

 

 

When did your impression of Cullen change (if ever)?

During Dragon Age 2, I actually didn't make the connection that Cullen was the same guy as from The Broken Circle (I don't recall getting his name during Tabris' playthrough). I also missed a lot of the Templar dialogue because of my first Hawke siding with the mages. Subsequent playthroughs focused on drawing out all the Cullen dramas. His characterization and growth is fascinating to me. After making a point to exposing myself (heheh) to all of his conversations, I think he is a good person trying to make the best of bad situations and sometimes failing. I feel bad for the half of the fandom that will never get to see most of the writing that the DA team has put in for him because they refuse to give him a chance. Best kept secret of Dragon Age.

[MageTarot]

I saw this on Examiner.com and thought I'd share:

 

Think of each type of romance in Dragon Age: Inquisition as a different kind of movie with every possible way that the love can unfold in the game is like a different genre. Depending upon how players choose to interact with different love interests, they may see the story unfold like a pure love story, a romantic comedy, or even somewhat like a buddy action movie. Of course, should fans not want to romance anyone, the option remains to fully skip the romance system.

 

I'm thinking that Cullen's might be the 'pure love story' (although as shy as he is, we may get the 'romantic comedy' story line) but I wouldn't say 'no' to a bromantic 'buddy action movie'!

[GVulture]

I saw this on Examiner.com and thought I'd share:

 

Think of each type of romance in Dragon Age: Inquisition as a different kind of movie with every possible way that the love can unfold in the game is like a different genre. Depending upon how players choose to interact with different love interests, they may see the story unfold like a pure love story, a romantic comedy, or even somewhat like a buddy action movie. Of course, should fans not want to romance anyone, the option remains to fully skip the romance system.

 

I'm thinking that Cullen's might be the 'pure love story' (although as shy as he is, we may get the 'romantic comedy' story line) but I wouldn't say 'no' to a bromantic 'buddy action movie'!

Buddy action movie kinda makes me think that Varric won't be romancable. He was the brosiest of bros in Dragon Age II.

[CuriousArtemis]

So it's now a page 1000 celebration?  I have been slacking on my project, so I hope so!

 

Yeah, I think so 

[CuriousArtemis]

Think of each type of romance in Dragon Age: Inquisition as a different kind of movie with every possible way that the love can unfold in the game is like a different genre. Depending upon how players choose to interact with different love interests, they may see the story unfold like a pure love story, a romantic comedy, or even somewhat like a buddy action movie. Of course, should fans not want to romance anyone, the option remains to fully skip the romance system.

 

To me this doesn't sound like they're saying, "One character will be the buddy-buddy LI, another will be the romantic LI" and so on. More like each LI and romance has the potential to go in each of these directions.

[Potato Cat]

I really wouldn't normally trust the Examiner, but it does put the information from PAX into more understandable language.

[MageTarot]

To me this doesn't sound like they're saying, "One character will be the buddy-buddy LI, another will be the romantic LI" and so on. More like each LI and romance has the potential to go in each of these directions.

I originally thought that as well but I got thrown by the "Depending upon how players choose to interact with different love interests" line. When I read that I thought that each LI had their own specific romantic story arc.